World News - In Surprise Move, Feds Drop One of Three Counts in Hamas Terrorism Case

Prosecutors stunned defense attorneys Friday when they dropped a charge that an alleged fundraiser for the Palestinian militant group Hamas gave material support to terrorists.Muhammad Salah, 53, who has been the focus of a high-profile terrorism investigation for nine years, remains charged in U.S. District Court with racketeering conspiracy and lying when he denied membership in Hamas.But defense attorneys were elated by the government's decision to drop even one of the three counts in the August 2004 indictment, which was announced in Washington by then Attorney General John Ashcroft."This is astounding," Salah's chief defense counsel Michael E. Deutsch told reporters after court.Salah of suburban Bridgeview and Abdelhaleem Ashqar, 48, of Alexandria, Va., are charged in the indictment with conspiracy to raise funds to pay for a Hamas terror campaign against the Israeli government.... http://www.foxnews.com

The British government played down a leaked e-mail on Friday in which an army officer serving in Afghanistan described British air force pilots there as "utterly, utterly useless" and said more troops were needed.The Ministry of Defense (MOD) said the comments, which British media jumped on as evidence of mounting problems for the British force in Afghanistan, represented only one man's opinions and were not representative. Details of the e-mail were broadcast by Sky television, which said it was written by a middle-ranking British officer serving in the Sangin area of northern Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. The BBC also carried the comments, which the MOD said was a personal message to friends and family rather than a formal complaint about conditions in Afghanistan...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2479146

A software engineer falsely accused of being a terrorist by Canadian police was shipped to Syria by the United States, where he was imprisoned and tortured, according to a Canadian commission. The 2 1/2-year commission of inquiry into the case of Syrian-born Maher Arar exonerated him of all suspicion of terrorist activity and urged the Canadian government to pay compensation. "They arrested me. They never told me what they had against me," Arar tells CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian. "I was a disappeared person. My family did not know where I was. I knew I was sent to Syria to be tortured." Arar is perhaps the world's best known victim of extraordinary rendition — or the US transfer of foreign terror suspects to third countries without court approval. Notice we use Syria when convenient to do our dirty work, and then condemn them and use them as the Boogieman. Just who is the good guys here, those who have other people do the torture, or the tortures? ...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/19/terror/main2020459.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2020459

Thailand's new military regime faced its first open dissent today when dozens of pro-democracy protesters violated martial law and demonstrated against the generals outside a Bangkok shopping centre.The action, which was allowed despite a ban on gatherings of more than four people, occurred as the junta took part in a ceremony to formalise the backing of the deeply revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.The generals also announced the creation of a revamped counter-corruption commission and ordered it to accelerate probes into the dealings of the ousted prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra. The demonstration was attended mostly by students and watched by several hundred people. Wearing black to mark the death of democracy, the group demanded that the military step down, the constitution be reinstated and rights such as freedom of speech be restored....http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1879111,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

A judge who repeatedly viewed pornography on the computer in his chambers apologized Friday after receiving a public reprimand from the Florida Supreme Court for violating judicial ethics. Circuit Judge Brandt C. Downey III of Clearwater told the high court he was "sorry" after Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis called his conduct "truly shocking" and an embarrassment to his friends, his family, the judiciary and the citizens of Florida. "I am embarrassed to sit in the middle chair this morning," Lewis told Downey as he stood alone before the seven justices. "To have a judge compelled to come before this court because of the type of behavior just stipulated constitutes true tarnish." The Supreme Court accepted an agreement in which Downey, 60, admitted accessing pornographic Internet sites from 2002 through 2005. The deal also requires Downey, who has served 21 years on the bench, to retire when his term expires Jan. 1, receive counseling, never again seek re-election or reappointment and ...http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-09-22-judge-porn_x.htm?csp=34

With Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf standing at his side, President Bush President said Friday he was “taken aback” by Musharraf's allegation that Washington threatened to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age if it did not cooperate in the fight against terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks. “The first I heard of it was when I read about it in the newspaper today,” Bush said when asked at a press conference about whether Musharraf’s allegations were true. “I guess I was taken aback by the harshness of the words.” “I don’t now of any (such) conversation,” he added. Musharraf, for his part, refused to comment, saying he was not allowed to elaborate given a contract he has for an upcoming book he has written....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14943975/